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Management and Human Resources Business Plans

The management portion of your business plan, the hr portion of your business plan, frequently asked questions (faqs).

As a startup, it’s never easy to come up with a business plan, let alone the management and human resources sections of a business plan. Despite that, it’s important that you start your business plan for human resources as soon as possible. Doing so gives your management goals a plan that will guide you and keep your business on track as it grows. 

The key components of your human resources business plan should include your organizational structure, the philosophy and needs of your HR department, the number of employees you want to hire, how you plan to manage them, and all the estimated costs related with personnel.

You’ll want to start your HR business plan by outlining your own managerial experience and skills as well as those of your team. Highlight the roles of each member of your team, and any particular areas of strength or deficiency in your personnel lineup. For example, your HR team may be strong in compliance and conflict resolution but weak in hiring. 

Don't worry if you don’t have a complete team in place when you write your HR business plan. Simply use this section to outline the organizational structure along with job descriptions, how you plan to recruit key team members, and what their responsibilities will be.

This section should look like a pyramid with you at the top and will likely have lateral positions. Be as specific as possible when defining an employee's responsibilities because this is what will drive your business.

Do You Need an HR Manager?

If you’re a solo practitioner, you may not think of including an HR manager in your management business plan. However, if you expect to hire non-managerial employees (such as salespeople or clerical workers), you should consider recruiting a human resources manager.

If hiring a human resources manager can’t be done, consider a human resources consultant. Human resource management requires an immense amount of time and paperwork, and an experienced HR consultant will be able to quickly get your payroll and benefits program up and running, affording you more time to concentrate on growing the business. Human resource responsibilities should include:

  • Handling FICA and unemployment taxes and paperwork
  • Ensuring compliance with the Family and Medical Leave Act
  • Staying on top of IRS filings

There are plenty of companies that offer HR management platforms tailored to each business's needs. Research these companies and be sure to include their estimated cost in your HR business plan.

When you develop the HR portion of your business plan, begin by including a brief overview of your HR strategy. Investors may be curious about how your payroll will be handled and the associated costs of administering it, as well as the type of corporate culture you plan to create. Specific items to highlight in the HR section include:

  • Payscale: Show the salaries for managers and non-managers based on the market for those jobs.
  • Vacation time: Describe your vacation-time policy. How much time do employees get? How quickly does it accrue? Vacation time is not required by law, but most firms offer vacation time to stay competitive and keep employees refreshed. 
  • Insurance: Health insurance is a common staple benefit, although skyrocketing prices have forced many firms to cut back on this benefit. If you can’t afford a health plan, look into subsidizing one with employees paying the rest. Alternatively, inquire if a professional insurance representative can help you get a bulk rate.
  • Additional benefits: Other things to consider include life insurance, a 401(k) and matching funds, bereavement leave, religious and floating holidays, and a bonus structure, if applicable.

In addition to the key elements above, it helps to have a framework from which to build your HR business plan. Here’s a basic outline that can help you get started: 

  • Figure out what your human resources department would need. 
  • Determine a strategy for recruiting talent.
  • Formulate your hiring process. 
  • Develop a training program for new employees. 
  • Determine how much you want to pay your team (this is a good spot for payscale info)
  • Create performance standards

It may be overwhelming to contemplate these benefits and their costs in the early stages of setting up your business, but in a competitive labor market, your firm needs to offer enough to entice qualified people and, more importantly, to keep them happy.

Consider revisiting your management and HR business plans every couple of years to see if you need to create action steps to refine your processes.

What should be in an HR business plan?

An HR business plan should include a mix of the steps you plan to take to launch an effective HR department, as well as specifics about how you plan to handle time off, insurance, and other benefits you plan to offer.

How do I write a human resources plan?

It helps to start with a simple framework. Try to break the plan down into sections: HR needs, recruitment, hiring, training, pay, and performance reviews. From there, incorporate other aspects of HR, like benefits and promotions.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce. " Does Your Small Business Need an HR Department? "

 University of Minnesota. “ Human Resources Management: 2.2 Writing the HRM Plan .”

Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. “ FY 2020-2022 Strategic Business Plan: Human Resources .”

HR Business Plan Template: Everything You Need to Know

With an HR business plan template, you can help your company recruit new employees, retain existing employees, and guide the development of the workforce. 4 min read updated on February 01, 2023

With an HR business plan template, you can help your company recruit new employees, retain existing employees, and guide the development of the workforce so that you collectively meet your business objectives, regardless of any changes in the industry or economy.

When creating your HR business plan, you need to perform a needs analysis of your workplace to tailor the plan to your company's requirements. You'll also need to learn about the industry standards for your field to make sure you're competitive.

Without such a plan in place, your workers will feel unprepared and won't know how to work towards your company's overall goals.

Steps for Developing a Human Resources Department Business Plan

There are several steps to creating an HR business plan. They include:

  • Clarify the requirements . While you might be tempted to create a detailed plan that encompasses the entire company's next 10 years, hold off. Always talk with your boss to see how much detail he or she would like in the plan. This will save you time and help streamline the process. However, there's no harm in creating your own personalized strategic plan for your specific department.
  • Read through the HR job descriptions . The HR department typically has employees such as HR assistants, HR generalists, and an HR director . Read through the job descriptions for each worker in the department and see what kind of duties are missing. Brainstorm additional functions that each job role could provide to the company.
  • Curate your list . Take the different functions you've brainstormed and compare them to what each member of the HR department is already doing. Are there functions you could add or subtract from each employee for more productivity? You don't have to go into detail here, but just think about how you could improve each role.
  • Schedule a meeting with the executives . Before you make any changes, you'll obviously need to get input and approval from the company's executives. They may have more feedback on how the HR department can provide additional services and support the company's overall goals and mission.
  • Create a feedback form . Come up with a list of questions to ask leadership about HR's role in the company and provide it to them in advance of the meeting so they have time to think it over and talk with their staff. You may even want to provide a rating and ranking format for the questions, as this will make their responses easy to understand and implement. Overall, this is a key process to understanding what management and employees want and need from the HR department.
  • Look at external resources . While the internal information you're collecting is the most important, it also doesn't hurt to take a look at data from professional organizations and websites, such as the Society for Human Resource Management , The Balance , or HR Magazine . You can also ask colleagues from other local organizations for tips on creating your business plan.
  • Use this information to make a plan . With your ideas, feedback from executives, and tips from external resources, you should have a clear idea of what your plan should look like. The things that are missing from the HR department should now be clear, and this should guide you on what to focus on to improve HR's contribution to the company.
  • Identify goals for this year and next . While your plan can have long-term goals, keep the majority of them a little bit shorter in scope to see how things work out. This gives you the chance to reorganize and restructure if things aren't going right. Consider creating a list of accomplishments you can reach for the end of this year and into the next.

A Real Life Example

If you're seeking more guidance on how to create a successful HR business plan, look to Starbucks as an example.

As the world's largest coffee chain, Starbucks had $21.3 billion in sales in 2016.

Despite these massive numbers, Starbucks maintains the same approach to their human resources department. All of the HR planning is guided by the company's organizational strategy and brand.

Their strategy is to use specific interview techniques when hiring new employees. This lets them identify potential leaders and place them in a "New Partner Orientation and Immersion" training program. With this system, Starbucks has achieved the lowest employee turnover rate in the quick-service restaurant industry.

Starbucks also offers numerous employee perks and dedicates a lot of time to employee training through an online portal that teaches employees essential job skills.

If you need help with your HR business plan template, you can post your legal need on UpCounsel's marketplace. UpCounsel accepts only the top 5 percent of lawyers to its site. Lawyers on UpCounsel come from law schools such as Harvard Law and Yale Law and average 14 years of legal experience, including work with or on behalf of companies like Google, Menlo Ventures, and Airbnb.

Hire the top business lawyers and save up to 60% on legal fees

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Blog Human Resources

6 Steps to Create a Strategic HR Plan [With Templates]

By Jessie Strongitharm , Aug 25, 2022

hr plan

The backbone of any successful business is the people and processes behind it — that’s why creating a human resources (HR) plan is key. This strategic document drives your business forward by evaluating where your workforce is at, and comparing it to future needs. 

Without an HR plan, organizations can suffer from issues that would have otherwise been avoided. From productivity pitfalls to costly employee turnover, there’s no shortage of risks you can sidestep if you do human resource planning in advance. 

Not sure where to start? No worries. I’ve outlined six steps you can take to create an effective HR plan that ensures your organization is well-staffed and well-served. You’ll also find a variety of  HR templates  that you can customize in just a few clicks — no design expertise required. 

Click to jump ahead:

What is human resource planning.

  • Assess employees’ current skill levels
  • Forecast your labor needs based on available information
  • Revisit your organizational design
  • Outline how you will manage, motivate and retain talent 
  • Align your workforce planning with your budget 
  • Establish KPIs for your human resource planning objectives

Human resource planning is the process of considering the current and future “people needs” of an organization.

This involves evaluating an organization’s workforce structure and protocols to ensure operational goals are met, productivity stays high and future demands for labor and talent can be fulfilled. 

The result of this process is the creation of an HR plan, which typically takes the form of a written document. These documents tend to follow a similar structure to most  strategic business plans  and are created on an annual basis, by HR managers or company leaders.

Check out the template below for an example. 

hr plan

This eye-catching, one-page  HR Strategic Plan Template  offers a concise summary of your human resource planning efforts, so you can easily share info with colleagues. 

Just swap out the text and visual assets for those of your choosing in  Venngage’s editor , and you’re off to the races. 

Return to Table of Contents

Start creating a strategic HR plan in 6 steps

Ready to create a strategic plan for the human resources that power your business? Here are six steps to help you succeed at the human resource planning process.

  • Assess current employees’ skill levels

The first step to creating a future-forward HR plan is to assess employees’ current skill sets, and compare them to your operational needs moving forward. This will help you identify gaps and inform any hiring of new employees.

Employees’ skill levels can be assessed by reviewing their work history, hard and soft skills and professional growth over time. 

Using a matrix is a great way to understand where the skill gaps in your current workforce exist. Below is an example that describes the skills needed for different marketing roles. 

hr plan

Don’t need it for marketing specifically? No worries — you can fully customize this template by swapping in your own text to examine any human resource gaps. 

Another way to assess skills is by giving employees a questionnaire they can fill out. This  Employee Competency Assessment Template  does just that.

hr plan

Based on the information collected, you’ll get a sense of what positions best suit each individual, and whether any upskilling or hiring is required. 

Next in your strategic strategic HR management plan, you’ll want to consider the future. This involves accounting for any upcoming changes to your workforce, so operations can continue without error.

When forecasting labor needs, the following should be considered: 

  • Planned promotions
  • Upcoming retirements 
  • Layoffs 
  • Personnel transfers 
  • Extended leaves of absence (i.e. maternity/paternity leave) 

Beyond those, it’s a good idea to assess the impact of external conditions on your labor needs during your human resource planning. For example, new technological developments may decrease the amount of employees you require to operate your business. 

Organizational design is the process of structuring the way a business operates so it can best achieve its goals. This is hugely important when it comes to your human resource planning process! 

With a clear understanding of your organization’s strategic objectives in mind, reviewing your organizational design allows you to understand the staffing requirements you’ll need to succeed at them. This means taking into account your  organizational structure  and chains of command, as well as how work gets done and the way information flows.

 From there, you’ll be able to see which departments need more team members so it can accomplish the organization’s objectives. 

An easy way to get started is by using an organizational flow chart. 

hr plan

With its color coding and layout, even a new manager can quickly look at this chart to identify the people responsible for leading teams and making decisions. 

And if there are any changes, it’s easy to to reflect them in the chart itself. All you need to do is customize the text and visual assets in  Venngage’s Chart Maker  as desired. 

Not quite your style? There’s plenty of other  organizational chart templates  to choose from. 

hr plan

Here’s an organizational chart that’s perfect for small businesses that have limited employees. One quick look, and you’re good to go. 

The bottom line is, no matter how big or small your business may be, you should always revisit your organizational design to optimize your workforce management and business operations. 

Related:  Types of Organizational Structure [+ Visualization Tips]

In this day and age, it’s a known fact that companies must provide more than just a paycheque to attract and retain talent, and encourage growth. 

It’s true —  studies have shown  employees are more engaged in their work when they feel it is meaningful, fulfilling and slightly challenging. So your human resource plan should consider how to inspire such feelings, and what actions you can take to motivate employees to stay. (Hint: a strong HR training and development program is key.)  

The  talent management infographic template  below is a great way to begin. 

hr plan

Using this  process chart , you can detail the steps you’ll take to retain the talent you have. Reference it as needed in your human resource planning.

 Another great way to keep staff motivated and geared towards their professional growth is by coming up with  ideas for employee development . Facilitating a company culture that champions continuous learning guarantees your team will feel supported and challenged in all the right ways.

The two employee development plan templates below will help you do just that. 

hr plan

Though both templates are geared towards healthcare organizations, it’s easy to customize their content in Venngage to promote the continuous learning and development of employees in any industry.

 As a result, your employees will be able to reach their full potential, while simultaneously supporting the long-term goals of your organization. 

Related:  6 Employee Development Ideas for Efficient Training

 Let’s face it, human resources ain’t cheap.

 Meaning, if you struggle at organizing and monitoring your HR budget, you’re bound to overspend on your initiatives —and no financially savvy business wants that. 

That’s why I recommend including financial information in your HR planning process, so you can reference your budget and expenses as needed. This ensures you’ll be able to stay within range as you work towards achieving your strategic goals for human capital . 

Plus, you don’t need to use one that contains walls of text and wack-loads numbers. Check out the clean and cheery option below — it’s as easy to fill out as it is to understand. 

hr plan

And if you’re looking to compare a forecasted budget to previous annual spending when strategizing your HR budget, the  Budget Comparison Infographic Template  below will help. 

hr plan

The bar graph is a great  data visualization  of annual expenses, organized by category. Just add (or import) any values to Venngage’s editor, swap out the text, and you’re ready to compare with ease. 

Related:  10+ Expense Report Templates You Can Edit Easily

Measurable results are important when it comes to your HR planning processes, because they indicate whether your strategy is working or not. 

Keeping those metrics in mind, your company can make adjustments and improve upon any future plans — AKA strategize for future success in business. That’s why your human resource plan should include info re: the specific key performance indicators (KPI) you’ll be measuring. 

KPIs are established to help determine if HR strategies and plans are working. Much like those used for evaluating the performance of  marketing  or  sales plan , KPIs for human resources are measurable results that indicate an organization’s success at achieving predetermined goals.

These may take the form of headcounts, turnover rates, demographic information, time to hire and employee satisfaction scores. 

Here’s one employee satisfaction survey you can use to understand your workforce better. 

hr plan

When you’re ready to organize those HR KPIs in a document, the  recruiting template  below is perfect for keeping tabs at a glance. 

hr plan

Related:  10+ Customizable HR Report Templates & Examples

How do I make an HR plan? 

After you’ve collected the data you need, you’ll want to convey this info in an engaging, professional manner for easy referencing and sharing amongst colleagues. Given this, using Venngage is the best route to go. 

Here are the simple steps to help you bring an actionable HR plan to life: 

  • Outline the information you would like to include in your strategic hr plan
  • Pick the human resource planning templates that best suits your needs 
  • Customize the templates’ text and visual assets so they speak to your organization 
  • Apply your company’s brand guidelines with a few clicks using Venngage’s automated branding feature,  My Brand Kit
  • Download and share as desired

Note: sharing is available free-of-charge. However, the option to download your creations and access features like  My Brand Kit and Team Collaboration  are available with a  Business plan . 

FAQ about HR plans

How long should an hr plan be .

There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to the length of an HR plan. That being said, if you’re going to share it with colleagues, you probably don’t want to create a 20+ page document. One to five pages should suffice. 

Try to be as concise as possible when relaying the facts, and use  data visualizations  wherever possible to save room.

Do I need an HR contingency plan?

In the same way creating an HR plan is a proactive move that helps your organization account for future needs, it’s a good idea to devise an HR contingency plan. This ensures there’s a back-up plan in place should your initiatives not go as expected. 

For example, if you’ve identified that you need five new hires to keep up with consumer demand, but the talent pool is lacking, a contingency plan could house suggestions for restructuring your workforce to mitigate this. 

In other words, it’s best-practice to hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. 

Is an HR plan different from an employee development plan?

Yes. While an HR plan is a strategic document describing how an organization addresses its personnel-related needs at a high-level, an  employee development plan  outlines the processes needed to help an individual achieve their professional goals.

 Even though the human resource planning process may involve outlining some employee development tactics, it is not unique to each employee as in the case of an employee development plan.

Make your HR planning processes effortless 

You don’t need a crystal ball to feel confident about your people moving forward. With a solid HR plan and strategy in place, you’ll prime your workforce — and all business endeavors — to succeed in even the most competitive of markets. 

Just remember this: human resources planning, and creating strategic business plans in general, doesn’t have to be exhausting. 

With Venngage’s huge selection of  professionally-designed templates  and easy-to-use editor, all it takes is a few minutes to produce a polished document perfect for all your needs.  Sign up for free today ! 

The HR Strategic Plan to Take Your Business to the Next Level

hr strategic plan

Chances are the past couple of years have meant major changes for your business. That’s why it’s more important than ever to take stock of your business’s changing needs and rethink how HR can contribute to the big picture. The best way to plan for the future? An HR strategic plan.

An HR strategic plan and an Annual HR plan both help you identify your organization’s long-term goals and then chart a path for achieving them . By definition, a good plan will strategically drive intentional decision-making, up employee engagement, and avoid wasted resources.

In this post, we’ll walk you through how to write an HR strategic plan of your own and even give you an  HR strategic plan template to help you get started. Who knows what 2024 may bring— we’ll make sure your HR strategic plan for 2024 covers everything.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Benefits of an HR Strategic Plan Template for HR Strategic Plan Considerations When Designing an HR Strategic Plan How to Implement an HR Strategic Plan Boost your HR strategy with software ✅

Benefits of an HR Strategic Plan

Your HR team is nothing to sneeze at! They’ve done a great job supporting employees at every turn, from recruitment to the exit interview. So, why do you need an HR strategic plan?

A plan can help evaluate current HR and company policies and procedures to see if goals are aligned. Understanding where you are will help you understand where you need to go. This information means you can set specific goals to help your business reach new heights. And a good HR plan will set milestones to let you know you’re on the way.

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The HR strategic planning process helps build team cohesion. Your HR staff will be primed to act in accordance with company goals even in situations that aren’t clearly outlined in the plan. Strong HR is vital to the success of any business. A strategic plan keeps everything shipshape and makes sure employees are supported, engaged, and productive.

Template for HR Strategic Plan

You get it; a plan is important. Now, how do you put one together?

There are four steps in our HR strategic plan template which can guide you as you create your own plan. We’ll include some strategic plan examples to show the types of goals to include.

Determine Guiding Principles

The first step is to determine your organization’s values or guiding principles. Ask yourself what is important to the business and be sure to consider the company’s mission statement and employee handbook . That is to say, what values does the HR department work to incorporate or reinforce? During this first step, don’t think about the plan. Just concentrate on what makes your organization great, different, or successful.

Values might include diversity, teamwork, respect, communication, integrity, innovation, leadership, transparency, employee well-being , or work-life balance. If you feel so moved, you can expand on these values with a sentence or two. Make sure to include the whole HR team in this process! It’s sure to be an interesting conversation starter.

Decide on Focus Areas for your HR Strategy

Next, use the guiding principles to zero in on where your organization needs to step up its game. For example, if you listed “diversity” as a guiding principle in the first section, in the second section you may want to list “recruitment” as a key focus area.

It may be time for a little SWOT analysis . SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Think about where your company shines and where it is falling short of the values you listed in the previous section.

Forecast how HR Requirements may change in the year ahead and take a look into change management practices. If your business is growing, focus on building employee engagement to make sure no one feels lost in the fray. If your business is tightening its belt (2020-21 have been tough!), concentrate on talent management to help employees make the most of available resources.

Be creative here! This part of the plan is for thinking big. You can adjust always adjust your goals later.

Set Concrete, Strategic HR Goals

Here is where we get into the nitty-gritty. Guiding principles? Check. Focus areas? Check. You know where you need to go. How will you get there? In this part of the plan, you need to set key objectives. For example, if you listed “diversity” as a core value in section one and “recruitment” as a focus area in section two, now it is time to think about how you can your HR team can build a diverse workforce through recruitment.

How do you reach a more diverse pool of applicants? Perhaps HR can launch a social media campaign or adjust company branding to tap into new demographics. Maybe they can promote alternative work plans, such as fellowships, internships, or flexible work schedules . Some of these questions may take time and research to answer. It can be a part of the HR strategic plan to “create a plan.”

Remember that the goals in your HR strategic plan need to be measurable. How else will you know that you’ve succeeded? For inspiration, you can check out successful HR strategies examples. For example, in 2015, Twitter publicly established “credible and achievable” goals . They wanted to increase the number of women and underrepresented minorities in tech jobs and leadership goals by about 1%. Think about what numbers make sense for your organization.

Communicate your HR Strategic Plan

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Considerations When Designing an HR Strategic Plan

Some questions may arise while developing the plan but we are here to help you through them.

Is a strategic plan the same as a business plan; if not, how does it differ?

Business plans are very important for uniting workers toward a common goal when an organization is just getting started. An HR department business plan provides a structure for ideas in order to initially define the business. A strategic plan, however, is used to provide focus, direction, and actionable steps in order to move the organization forward. Use strategic plans in order to unite the major objectives the organization hopes to achieve with the steps it actions it will take to achieve them.

What are some HR Strategic Plan Examples?

Each organization’s HR strategic plan should be specifically tailored to the goals and needs of that business. Although no two plans should look alike, there are some general standards to keep in mind.  Consider statistics like the HR management to HR employee ratio while developing strategic hiring goals. With that said, different industries will have different priorities when it comes to setting goals.

For example, the finance industry regularly undergoes massive transformations as new technologies (“fintech”) reshape the field. An HR team in this sector will need to be agile, ready to manage organizational development or re-train employees to meet the demands of an ever-changing industry.

For retail businesses that see a lot of turnover, HR teams may want to focus on the recruitment of quality candidates. Improving training for new employees and offering strong talent management will ensure the knowledgeable and hard-working employees stick around.

How to Implement an HR Strategic Plan

The key to implementing an HR Strategic plan is communication! Make sure your HR staff gets a say in determining values, priorities, and goals for the coming year. Then, regularly check in to see how things are going. Be sure to set milestones for the coming year so that you can track progress.

hr department business plan

If you follow our HR strategic plan template, your HR department will be in an ideal position to support your business in 2024, whatever arises. Though your 2024 HR strategic plan won’t cover all the situations which might arise, it will help your department to better understand and internalize compy goals.

Develop your HR Strategic Plan with the help of real-time people analytics data.

Written by: Valerie Slaughter

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Susan Heathfield is an HR and management consultant with an MS degree. She has decades of experience writing about human resources.

If you’re a department leader, your boss will likely one day ask this question: “What is your business plan for your department?” As the leader of the Human Resources function, you can use these steps to answer that question.

A frequently asked question at this website, it’s a difficult question to answer in a generic fashion because the needs of every company for the contribution of the HR department can differ widely. You can, however, use these steps as a guide as you develop your own HR business plan.

Your Human Resources department business plan depends on your needs analysis of your own workplace. Your Human Resources department business plan also depends on learning about and benchmarking industry standards outside of your organization.

But, the fundamental question you need to answer, to reply to your boss’s question, is, “What does your workplace need from the HR function?” Here’s how you can find the answer.

Steps to Develop a Human Resources Department Business Plan

  • Start your Human Resources department business plan by clarifying exactly what your boss needs and wants from you and in how much detail. You don’t want to spend hours and hours developing information or a detailed plan that the boss doesn’t need or want. That said, for your own clear purpose and direction, your own strategic plan for your department, this approach will yield great value.
  • Read through the detailed job descriptions that have been developed for the HR Director/VP , HR Generalist , and HR Assistant . Are there functions listed in these job descriptions that you are not performing that you could perform that would add value to your organization? Start a function list. You can also use a commercially developed Human Resources department audit book/program or an occasional free Human Resources department audit plan list.
  • Take a look at this list, plus add to the list, the functions that your Human Resources department is already performing and functions that you know you want to add—or subtract. Minute detail is not required until you are ready to put together your Human Resources department business plan when you complete these steps.
  • Meet with your fellow executives to obtain an assessment of their current satisfaction with your services, additional services they’d like you to add, and their ideas about how HR can best support your organization’s mission , vision , and goals. Supply the questions to your key colleagues in advance of your meeting. Inform them that you have distributed the questions in advance so that they can solicit feedback from their staff, too. If you have effectively gathered the above internal and external information, you may be able to present the choices in a rating and ranking format. This is the key step within your organization for assessing what the line management and the employees want from the HR function. Of course, there are administrative and counseling functions that they might never consider asking you to provide that you will continue to provide as part of a professional HR function. The purpose of asking is to find the offerings that your customers think they need most.
  • You are developing a great deal of internal information about your company’s HR needs. You might also look at recent journals from professional associations such as the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Talk with colleagues in any local associations you attend. Take a look at literature available such as HR Magazine . The articles from this section of TheBalance.com are particularly useful for planning the priorities and scope of the HR department business plan.
  • Once you have gathered all of this information, or even, just enough—your executives’ priorities may give you extremely clear direction, for example—you can make a plan. You can see what you are missing in your HR department, what you might expand, what you need to focus on strategically to build your department’s contribution, and what you may currently offer that is not needed.
  • From these identified missions, prioritize and make a plan, based on resources and your preferred method of presentation or accomplishment, of what you can accomplish this year and next. Some solutions may be HRIS-based needs ; others may have to do with HR office offerings; others may require a strategic change in direction or the addition of a major function. You won’t know until you study and ask.

Now, at last, you can answer your boss’s question: What is your business plan for your HR department?

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HR Business Plan: What Is It And What Are Its Steps?

Every company that has an HR department needs an HR business plan. Without it, you will have inconsistencies when you deal with your employees.

Human resources manage the relationship between your company and its employees. Due to this, it is only natural for human resources to have their own plan of approach to their tasks.

Key Takeaways:

An HR business plan is the strategic approach of the human resources department.

The HR business plan should clarify responsibilities, organize its processes, and create performance standards in which to gauge its success.

First assess the current HR situation, then establish goals and strategies to enact those goals for the HR department.

Make sure your HR strategies comply with legal requirements.

What Is A HR Business Plan And What Are Its Steps?

What Is A HR Business Plan?

An HR business plan is a strategic approach your human resource department will follow to accomplish its goals.

Like all business plans, an HR business plan needs to define its objectives, organize systems of measured success, and incorporate a flexible framework. A robust plan can adapt to new scenarios and still focus on its long-term aims.

Though this will vary by company, in general, every HR business plan will want to:

Clarify roles and responsibilities. Focus on the roles and responsibilities of the department and its members. You want to understand the job descriptions of each member of the human resource department. Then decide what the overall purpose of the department is and connect it back to each member. Be aware of any conflicting or contradictory agendas and seek to streamline.

Design and organize processes. Human resources helps hire, train, onboard, and terminate staff. There should be well-detailed plans for each process that keeps the human resources department prepared for any scenario.

Address compensation and benefits. Human resources manages the implementation of benefits and compensation. Therefore, the department’s plan must discuss how this will be handled.

Comply with legal requirements. The human resource department needs to be well-versed in the legal requirements and protections of the employees. The plan should provide a clear compliance with the law.

Create performance standards. A business plan is useless unless it can be evaluated against measures of success. It helps to provide metrics with results to be more objective in analysis.

Tie in to overall business plan. The HR business plan needs to complement the overarching business plan of the company. Avoid any policies or procedures that conflict with the overall business plan.

A human resource business plan will develop these points into a coherent strategy.

Steps To Develop A HR Business Plan

Assess current human resource situation. Before a plan is made, the human resources department and the company executives need to know what they have already. Your company should evaluate the roles and responsibilities of its human resource staff. You will want to see if anything is missing or if there is anything that is expendable.

Establish goals for human resource department. Now that you know what you’re working with, it is time now to think about what you want the human resource department to accomplish. Use the roles and responsibilities you just clarified to arrange practical benchmarks you want the department to make. Make sure goals do not interfere with one another but build toward an overall objective.

Create strategies to enact goals. Once you have your goals in place, it is time to build strategies to accomplish those goals. These strategies should work in tandem, so make sure each one has a logical progression. Like the goals, you do not want your strategies to interfere with one another but instead build towards an overall objective.

Evaluate business plan. Once you enact the plan, you need to make sure you accomplish your goals. Have a feedback system put in place where you can measure the success and failures of your plan. Come up with contingency plans in case your initial plans need to be re-evaluated.

Why Have A Human Resource Business Plan

An HR business plan is needed to establish long-term success with your employees.

Your plan gives focuses on the roles and responsibilities of the department. Human resources play a critical role in the hiring, training, and retention of staff. A business plan will clarify these procedures.

A HR business plan also provides consistency in the implementation of benefits and managing the welfare of the employees.

The human resource business plan empowers the department to perform at its best. In turn, it will help employees be equipped and compensated to perform at their best.

Without a HR business plan, your company is at risk conflicted and contradictory procedures that impede growth and success.

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Conor McMahon is a writer for Zippia, with previous experience in the nonprofit, customer service, and technical support industries. He has a degree in Music Industry from Northeastern University and in his free time he plays guitar with his friends. Conor enjoys creative writing between his work doing professional content creation and technical documentation.

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2.2 Writing the HRM Plan

Learning objective.

  • Describe the steps in the development of an HRM plan.

As addressed in Section 2.1 “Strategic Planning” , the writing of an HRM strategic plan should be based on the strategic plans of the organization and of the department. Once the strategic plan is written, the HR professional can begin work on the HR plan. This is different from the strategic plan in that it is more detailed and more focused on the short term. The six parts described here are addressed in more detail in Chapter 4 “Recruitment” , Chapter 5 “Selection” , Chapter 6 “Compensation and Benefits” , Chapter 7 “Retention and Motivation” , Chapter 8 “Training and Development” , Chapter 9 “Successful Employee Communication” , Chapter 10 “Managing Employee Performance” , and Chapter 11 “Employee Assessment” .

How Would You Handle This?

Compensation Is a Touchy Subject

As the HR manager, you have access to sensitive data, such as pay information. As you are looking at pay for each employee in the marketing department, you notice that two employees with the same job title and performing the same job are earning different amounts of money. As you dig deeper, you notice the employee who has been with the company for the least amount of time is actually getting paid more than the person with longer tenure. A brief look at the performance evaluations shows they are both star performers. You determine that two different managers hired the employees, and one manager is no longer with the organization. How would you handle this?

As you can see from this figure, the company strategic plan ties into the HRM strategic plan, and from the HRM strategic plan, the HR plan can be developed

As you can see from this figure, the company strategic plan ties into the HRM strategic plan, and from the HRM strategic plan, the HR plan can be developed.

The six parts of the HRM plan include the following:

  • Determine human resource needs. This part is heavily involved with the strategic plan. What growth or decline is expected in the organization? How will this impact your workforce? What is the economic situation? What are your forecasted sales for next year?
  • Determine recruiting strategy. Once you have a plan in place, it’s necessary to write down a strategy addressing how you will recruit the right people at the right time.
  • Select employees. The selection process consists of the interviewing and hiring process.
  • Develop training. Based on the strategic plan, what training needs are arising? Is there new software that everyone must learn? Are there problems in handling conflict? Whatever the training topics are, the HR manager should address plans to offer training in the HRM plan.
  • Determine compensation. In this aspect of the HRM plan, the manager must determine pay scales and other compensation such as health care, bonuses, and other perks.
  • Appraise performance. Sets of standards need to be developed so you know how to rate the performance of your employees and continue with their development.

Each chapter of this text addresses one area of the HR plan, but the next sections provide some basic knowledge of planning for each area.

Determine Human Resource Needs

The first part of an HR plan will consist of determining how many people are needed. This step involves looking at company operations over the last year and asking a lot of questions:

  • Were enough people hired?
  • Did you have to scramble to hire people at the last minute?
  • What are the skills your current employees possess?
  • What skills do your employees need to gain to keep up with technology?
  • Who is retiring soon? Do you have someone to replace them?
  • What are the sales forecasts? How might this affect your hiring?

These are the questions to answer in this first step of the HR plan process. As you can imagine, this cannot be done alone. Involvement of other departments, managers, and executives should take place to obtain an accurate estimate of staffing needs for now and in the future. We discuss staffing in greater detail in Chapter 4 “Recruitment” .

Many HR managers will prepare an inventory of all current employees, which includes their educational level and abilities. This gives the HR manager the big picture on what current employees can do. It can serve as a tool to develop employees’ skills and abilities, if you know where they are currently in their development. For example, by taking an inventory, you may find out that Richard is going to retire next year, but no one in his department has been identified or trained to take over his role. Keeping the inventory helps you know where gaps might exist and allows you to plan for these gaps. This topic is addressed further in Chapter 4 “Recruitment” .

HR managers will also look closely at all job components and will analyze each job. By doing this analysis, they can get a better picture of what kinds of skills are needed to perform a job successfully. Once the HR manager has performed the needs assessment and knows exactly how many people, and in what positions and time frame they need to be hired, he or she can get to work on recruiting, which is also called a staffing plan . This is addressed further in Chapter 4 “Recruitment” .

Recruitment is an important job of the HR manager. More detail is provided in Chapter 4 “Recruitment” . Knowing how many people to hire, what skills they should possess, and hiring them when the time is right are major challenges in the area of recruiting. Hiring individuals who have not only the skills to do the job but also the attitude, personality, and fit can be the biggest challenge in recruiting. Depending on the type of job you are hiring for, you might place traditional advertisements on the web or use social networking sites as an avenue. Some companies offer bonuses to employees who refer friends. No matter where you decide to recruit, it is important to keep in mind that the recruiting process should be fair and equitable and diversity should be considered. We discuss diversity in greater detail in Chapter 3 “Diversity and Multiculturalism” .

Depending on availability and time, some companies may choose to outsource their recruiting processes. For some types of high-level positions, a head hunter will be used to recruit people nationally and internationally. A head hunter is a person who specializes in matching jobs with people, and they usually work only with high-level positions. Another option is to use an agency that specializes in hiring people for a variety of positions, including temporary and permanent positions. Some companies decide to hire temporary employees because they anticipate only a short-term need, and it can be less expensive to hire someone for only a specified period of time.

No matter how it is done, recruitment is the process of obtaining résumés of people interested in the job. In our next step, we review those résumés, interview, and select the best person for the job.

After you have reviewed résumés for a position, now is the time to work toward selecting the right person for the job. Although we discuss selection in great detail in Chapter 6 “Compensation and Benefits” , it is worth a discussion here as well. Numerous studies have been done, and while they have various results, the majority of studies say it costs an average of $45,000 to hire a new manager (Herman, 1993). While this may seem exaggerated, consider the following items that contribute to the cost:

  • Time to review résumés
  • Time to interview candidates
  • Interview expenses for candidates
  • Possible travel expenses for new hire or recruiter
  • Possible relocation expenses for new hire
  • Additional bookkeeping, payroll, 401(k), and so forth
  • Additional record keeping for government agencies
  • Increased unemployment insurance costs
  • Costs related to lack of productivity while new employee gets up to speed

Because it is so expensive to hire, it is important to do it right. First, résumés are reviewed and people who closely match the right skills are selected for interviews. Many organizations perform phone interviews first so they can further narrow the field. The HR manager is generally responsible for setting up the interviews and determining the interview schedule for a particular candidate. Usually, the more senior the position is, the longer the interview process takes, even up to eight weeks (Crant, 2009). After the interviews are conducted, there may be reference checks, background checks, or testing that will need to be performed before an offer is made to the new employee. HR managers are generally responsible for this aspect. Once the applicant has met all criteria, the HR manager will offer the selected person the position. At this point, salary, benefits, and vacation time may be negotiated. Compensation is the next step in HR management.

Determine Compensation

What you decide to pay people is much more difficult than it seems. This issue is covered in greater detail in Chapter 6 “Compensation and Benefits” . Pay systems must be developed that motivate employees and embody fairness to everyone working at the organization. However, organizations cannot offer every benefit and perk because budgets always have constraints. Even governmental agencies need to be concerned with compensation as part of their HR plan. For example, in 2011, Illinois State University gave salary increases of 3 percent to all faculty, despite state budget cuts in other areas. They reasoned that the pay increase was needed because of the competitive nature of hiring and retaining faculty and staff. The university president said, “Our employees have had a very good year and hopefully this is a good shot in the arm that will keep our morale high” (Pawlowski, 2011).

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Determination of compensation systems is a balancing act. Compensation should be high enough to motivate current employees and attract new ones but not so high that it breaks the budget.

Nathan Rupert – Venice Beach Tightrope Walker – CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

The process in determining the right pay for the right job can have many variables, in addition to keeping morale high. First, as we have already discussed, the organization life cycle can determine the pay strategy for the organization. The supply and demand of those skills in the market, economy, region, or area in which the business is located is a determining factor in compensation strategy. For example, a company operating in Seattle may pay higher for the same job than their division in Missoula, Montana, because the cost of living is higher in Seattle. The HR manager is always researching to ensure the pay is fair and at market value. In Chapter 6 “Compensation and Benefits” , we get into greater detail about the variety of pay systems, perks, and bonuses that can be offered. For many organizations, training is a perk. Employees can develop their skills while getting paid for it. Training is the next step in the HR planning process.

Develop Training

Once we have planned our staffing, recruited people, selected employees, and then compensated them, we want to make sure our new employees are successful. Training is covered in more detail in Chapter 8. One way we can ensure success is by training our employees in three main areas:

  • Company culture. A company culture is the organization’s way of doing things. Every company does things a bit differently, and by understanding the corporate culture, the employee will be set up for success. Usually this type of training is performed at an orientation, when an employee is first hired. Topics might include how to request time off, dress codes, and processes.
  • Skills needed for the job. If you work for a retail store, your employees need to know how to use the register. If you have sales staff, they need to have product knowledge to do the job. If your company uses particular software, training is needed in this area.
  • Human relations skills. These are non-job-specific skills your employees need not only to do their jobs but also to make them all-around successful employees. Skills needed include communication skills and interviewing potential employees.

Perform a Performance Appraisal

The last thing an HR manager should plan is the performance appraisal. While we discuss performance appraisals in greater detail in Chapter 11 “Employee Assessment” , it is definitely worth a mention here, since it is part of the strategic plan. A performance appraisal is a method by which job performance is measured. The performance appraisal can be called many different things, such as the following:

  • Employee appraisal
  • Performance review
  • Career development review

No matter what the name, these appraisals can be very beneficial in motivating and rewarding employees. The performance evaluation includes metrics on which the employee is measured. These metrics should be based on the job description, both of which the HR manager develops. Various types of rating systems can be used, and it’s usually up to the HR manager to develop these as well as employee evaluation forms. The HR manager also usually ensures that every manager in the organization is trained on how to fill out the evaluation forms, but more importantly, how to discuss job performance with the employee. Then the HR manager tracks the due dates of performance appraisals and sends out e-mails to those managers letting them know it is almost time to write an evaluation.

Human Resource Recall

Have you ever been given a performance evaluation? What was the process and the outcome?

Communication Is Key in Performance Evaluations

(click to see video)

Communication is imperative in any workplace, but especially when giving and receiving a performance evaluation.

Key Takeaways

  • Human resource planning is a process that is part of the strategic plan. It involves addressing specific needs within the organization, based on the company’s strategic direction.
  • The first step in HR planning is determining current and future human resource needs. In this step, current employees, available employees in the market, and future needs are all analyzed and developed.
  • In the second step of the process, once we know how many people we will need to hire, we can begin to determine the best methods for recruiting the people we need. Sometimes an organization will use head hunters to find the best person for the job.
  • After the recruiting process is finished, the HR manager will begin the selection process. This involves setting up interviews and selecting the right person for the job. This can be an expensive process, so we always want to hire the right person from the beginning.
  • HR managers also need to work through compensation plans, including salary, bonus, and other benefits, such as health care. This aspect is important, since most organizations want to use compensation to attract and retain the best employees.
  • The HR manager also develops training programs to ensure the people hired have the tools to be able to do their jobs successfully.
  • Of the parts of HR planning, which do you think is most difficult, and why? Which would you enjoy the most, and why?
  • Why is it important to plan your staffing before you start to hire people?
  • What is the significance of training? Why do we need it in organizations?

Crant, J., “How Long Does an Interview Process Take?” Jobsinminneapolis.com, December 2, 2009, accessed October 28, 2010, http://www.jobsinminneapolis.com/articles/title/How-Long-Does-an-Interview-Process-Take/3500/422 .

Herman, S., Hiring Right: A Practical Guide (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1993), xv.

Pawlowski, S., “Illinois State University to Get Salary Bump,” WJBC Radio, July 11, 2011, accessed July 11, 2011, http://wjbc.com/illinois-state-university-faculty-to-get-salary-bump .

Human Resource Management Copyright © 2016 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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How to Develop a Human Resources Department Business Plan

Develop a Human Resources Department Business Plan

What Is Management Plan in a Business Plan?

The management plan section of your business plan will give more focus on defining your management team, as well as your staff and business ownership. This section highlights the individual skill of your team and their contributions to your business and simple business plans .

Fundamentals of Human Resources Strategic Planning

  • Setting the vision statement and mission statement of the company, as well as the business goals and objectives.
  • Learning the executive summary of the business plan.
  • Know and understand the business strategies and how these strategies can develop a company.
  • Establishing the objective statement of the human resource strategic planning.

How to Create a Human Resource Department Annual Strategic Plan?

The human resource strategic plan, if organized well and properly will be the key element to the success of any business, small or big. This strategic plan should focus on how it can increase the proficiency of this area and not harming the best interest of the company and the employees.

The human resource strategic plan has four functions:

  • Selection and training.  It involves finding applicants and hiring the most qualified individual for the position.
  • Training and development.  Improving the skills of the employee and meeting the employee’s need.
  • Benefits administration.  Providing benefits package to the employees can increase the chance of retaining them
  • Employee relations.  The human resource strategic plan should focus on the maintaining safety and work-friendly environment.

How to Design and Implement an HR Strategy?

Many companies may not know this but establishing, designing, implementing an HR strategy will ensure that your company will run smoothly and efficiently. Here are the steps:

  • Define the company’s vision statement.  The company’s vision statement will serve as a guide on how the HR can help the company in reaching the smart goals .
  • Establish the HR department’s role.  The role of HR in the company is countless. The company must set what specific role an HR must do.
  • Implement the plan.  After the strategy has been developed, the implementation plan is now ready to implement. With the help of the HR strategy, the plan can be developed to help the business improve.
  • Measure the success.  The success of the strategy must be measured to make the HR strategy more effective.

Steps to Develop a Human Resources Department Business Plan

Here are the steps in developing a human resources department business plan in pdf .

  • Understand what your boss needs and wants from you.  It will be painful for you to have developed a plan that the boss didn’t want or need.
  • Create a list of job descriptions.  Find out if there are job descriptions your department is not performing but would value to the company if it is performed.
  • Add to the list the functions that your human resources department is already performing.  You can also add those functions that you want to add or subtract.
  • Consult with your fellow executives.  Get an assessment plan of their satisfaction with your services.

The Link Between Strategic Planning and Human Resource Planning

All companies have three critical resources that must be used effectively to achieve the success of the quality plan of business. These three resources are:

  • The technologies used in manufacturing and producing a product
  • The finances in the financial statement that is used to pay what the expense report of a company.
  • And the people with skills and talents that are used achieve the work that is crucial.

With that, the company must have a business and strategic plan to manage and utilize these resources.

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Integrity HR

5 Steps To Developing A Strategic HR Plan

by Amy Letke | Apr 18, 2018 | Blog

Amy Letke

Amy Newbanks Letke, SPHR, GPHR, is the Founder of Integrity HR, Inc. Amy provides workplace solutions to improve performance, reduce liability and increase profits. She is passionate about helping other entrepreneurs and business owners achieve success. Contact us for more insights - 502-753-0970 or [email protected]

You’ve heard it before, and you’ll hear it again – every business needs a strategic plan.

The most successful companies develop and implement an effective strategic plan to help them pursue their organizational goals. But, even the best strategic plan won’t be very effective if the human resources function isn’t in alignment with it.

A Strategic HR Plan is a tool to help businesses align their organizational goals with their HR capabilities , and every business should have one in place to support the growth outlined in their strategic plan.

If you haven’t developed a Strategic HR Plan for your business (or if you’re still not quite sure what it is!), don’t worry!

Below we share our 5 Steps To Developing A Strategic HR Plan to help you effectively support and achieve your organization’s strategic goals.

If you’re interested in learning more about developing a  Strategic HR Plan  or a Strategic Plan for your business, schedule an appointment with one of our HR professionals or give us a call at 877-753-0970 .

What is a Strategic HR Plan?

A Strategic HR Plan helps organizations to align human resources to corporate strategy. It is an essential planning document built upon the corporate mission, vision, values, and goals established in the strategic business plan.

It provides information on how the HR function will support the goals and strategies of the organization, while also ensuring that HR planning and practices are consistent.

The ideal Strategic HR Plan outlines how the gaps between present and future capabilities will be addressed, enabling businesses to effectively pursue their company goals.

Why develop a Strategic HR Plan?

In most organizations, managers have a responsibility to fulfill expectations in the areas of corporate governance, transparency of policies, accountability, and economic efficiency.

For your business to be successful in these areas, you need to have the right people, with the right skills, in the right place, at the right time to carry out the strategy.

A comprehensive Strategic HR Plan will ensure that you have the capacity to deliver on strategy and the ability to monitor progress towards your organization’s goals. It should also establish:

  • HR practices that are consistent across the organization
  • Training and skill development policies that are linked to strategy
  • Succession planning processes that identify and minimize capability risks

How do you create a Strategic HR Plan?

The process for developing a Strategic HR Plan begins by identifying where your organization is now in the life-cycle of an enterprise: the start-up stage, the growth stage, the mature stage, or the decline stage.

Once you’ve decided where your company is today, formulate a clear picture of your company’s future along with ways to get there. Your Strategic HR Plan will be built upon the foundation of this strategic business plan.

Step 1: Identify Future HR Needs

Using your business’ strategic plan as a guide, identify the future HR needs of the organization. Ask questions like:

  • What is the nature of our work?
  • What type of culture will support productivity?
  • What skills do we need to deliver results?
  • Where are those skills and how are we tapping into them?
  • How large is our organization?
  • What systems and processes do we need?
  • How are we making sure peoples’ skills match our needs?
  • What risks are associated with this future?

Step 2: Consider Present HR Capabilities

Now consider your company’s present HR situation by asking questions like:

  • With the future in mind, what is our current capability?
  • How are we doing against benchmarks?
  • What are our strengths and weaknesses?
  • Are there legislative requirements we need to consider?
  • What are we doing well now, that we need to do more of in the future?
  • Where do the risks lie?
  • What HR issues may prevent us from getting to the future?
  • What current systems will support or hinder our progress?

Step 3: Identify Gaps Between Future Needs & Present Capability

Compare your future HR needs from step 1 with your present HR capabilities from step 2, and identify any significant gaps that appear.

Gaps can develop in a number of areas including policies and procedures, capability, and resource allocation. Start with these questions:

  • Where do significant gaps appear between the present and future?
  • How can these gaps be classified?

Step 4: Formulate Gap Strategies

Next, work to develop strategies that will address the gaps you identified in Step 3. These gap strategies may affect:

  • Job/Work Design
  • Selection/Staffing
  • Performance Management
  • Compensation/Rewards
  • Training/Development
  • Employee Relations
  • Safety and Health
  • Workforce Diversity

Not all gaps will be of the same strategic importance, so you will need to set priorities for addressing them.

For example, imagine you discovered a need to update your HR information system. Investing in a new system would provide you with employee progress data that you deemed essential for your future company goals.

The need for an upgraded HR information system should be prioritized as urgent because it’s necessary to succeed in your long-term strategic plan.

Questions you can ask to help you determine the priority of your needs include:

  • What are the top priorities?
  • Where can we experience rapid progress?
  • How do these strategies work with our budgets?
  • What is the degree of change needed?

Step 5:  Share & Monitor The Plan

Sharing the Strategic HR Plan with your senior leadership and those connected to the HR function of your organization is a crucial component of its success. The more your team understands and supports the plan, the more empowered they will be to help the company achieve its goals.

It’s also important to monitor the progress of the Strategic HR Plan you develop and to communicate successes or modifications to your team.

At the very least, you should review the plan on an annual basis to verify that the goals on which the plan was based are still accurate and to make adjustments as needed.

Developing Your Plan

Developing a comprehensive Strategic HR Plan is an essential investment in helping your company achieve its goals.

A Strategic HR Plan aligns your corporate mission with your business plan, ensuring you have the capacity to deliver on strategy as you pursue your organization’s goals.

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HR Consulting Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

hr consulting business plan template

Human Resources Consulting Business Plan

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 1,000 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their human resources consulting businesses. On this page, we will first give you some background information with regards to the importance of business planning. We will then go through an HR consulting business plan template step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your human resources consulting business as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategy for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan

If you’re looking to start an HR consulting business or grow your existing business, you need to write your own business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your HR consulting business in order to improve your chances of success. Your business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Human Resources Consulting Businesses

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a human resources consulting business are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans and angel investors. With regards to bank loans, banks will want to review your business plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the lender will not only want to confirm that your financials are reasonable, but they will also want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business. Personal savings is the most common form of funding for a human resources consulting business. Personal savings and bank loans are the most common funding paths for HR consulting businesses.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

If you want to start an HR consulting business or expand your current one, you need a business plan. Below we detail what should be included in your own business plan for an HR consulting firm.

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your own business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of HR consulting business you are operating and its status. For example, are you a startup, do you have an HR consulting firm that you would like to grow, or are you operating human resources consulting firms in multiple markets?

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan. For example, give a brief overview of the HR consulting industry. Discuss the type of HR consulting business you are operating. Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers. Provide a snapshot of your marketing plan. Identify the key members of your team. And offer an overview of your financial plan.  

Company Analysis

In your company analysis, you will detail the type of HR consulting business you are operating.

For example, you might operate one of the following types of human resources consulting businesses:

  • Human Capital Strategy : this type of business focuses on strategic matters such as corporate culture, diversity, and organization design.
  • Compensation & Benefits: this type of business involves analyzing and consulting on all aspects of employee compensation, from base pay to secondary benefits, as well as pension and retirement.
  • Talent Management: this type of business focuses primarily on recruitment and retention of talent, as well as on talent development.
  • Professional Development: this type of business offers services ranging from leadership coaching and development to developing learning management systems.

In addition to explaining the type of HR consulting business you will operate, the Company Analysis section of your business plan needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to questions such as:

  • When and why did you start the business?
  • What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include the number of websites launched, the types of sites developed, etc.
  • Your legal structure. Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry analysis, you need to provide an overview of the HR industry.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the HR industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your strategy, particularly if your research identifies market trends.

The third reason for market research is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section of your HR consulting business plan:

  • How big is the human resources industry (in dollars)?
  • Is the market declining or increasing?
  • Who are the key competitors in the market?
  • Who are the key suppliers in the market?
  • What trends are affecting the industry?
  • What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
  • What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential market for your human resources consulting business? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section of your HR consulting business plan must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: financial services companies, government entities, healthcare institutions, and technology companies.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of human resource consulting business you operate. Clearly, government entities would respond to different marketing promotions than technology companies, for example.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, include a discussion of the ages, genders, locations, and income levels of the customers you seek to serve. Because most HR consulting businesses primarily serve customers living in the same city or town, such demographic information is easy to find on government websites.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can understand and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.  

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Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other human resource consulting firms.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t direct competitors. This includes more generalized management consultants or dedicated in-house HR teams.

With regards to direct competition, you want to describe the other HR consulting businesses with which you compete. Most likely, your direct competitors will be human resource consulting businesses located very close to your location.

hr department business plan

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their businesses and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as:

  • What types of customers do they serve?
  • Do they specialize in specific industries (i.e. healthcare, technology, etc.)?
  • What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
  • What are they good at?
  • What are their weaknesses?

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

  • Will you provide either a wider range or more specialized range of services?
  • Will you offer virtual service options?
  • Will you provide superior customer service?
  • Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.  

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For an human resource consulting business, your marketing plan should include the following:

Product : In the product section, you should reiterate the type of HR consulting company that you documented in your Company Analysis. Then, detail the specific products you will be offering. For example, in addition to strategic consulting, will your HR consulting business provide compliance consulting?

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your marketing plan, you are presenting the services you offer and their prices.

Place : Place refers to the location of your company. Document your location and mention how the location will impact your success. For example, will you operate from a physical office, or will you primarily interact with clients online and/or at their place of business? In this section, discuss how your location will affect the demand for your services.

Promotions : The final part of your marketing plan is the promotions section. Here you will document how you will drive customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

  • Advertising in local papers and magazines
  • Reaching out to local websites
  • Signs and billboards
  • Social media marketing
  • Local radio advertising

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your business plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your HR consulting business, including marketing, providing consultations, building analytics processes, developing and presenting recommendations, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to sign your 50 th consulting contract, or when you hope to reach $X in revenue. It could also be when you expect to open an HR consulting business in a new location.  

Management Team

To demonstrate your HR consulting business’ ability to succeed, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow your business.

Ideally you and/or your team members have direct experience in human resources and/or managing HR consulting businesses. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act like mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in Human Resources, or successfully running small businesses.  

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statements.

Income Statement : an income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenues and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

hr consulting business expenses

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you focus on one client at a time, or will you have teams working on multiple projects at once? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.

Balance Sheets : Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $50,000 on building out your business, this will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a bank writes you a check for $50,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.

Cash Flow Statement : Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and make sure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and business owners don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt.

In developing your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing an hr consulting business:

  • Office build-out
  • Cost of buying or leasing a company vehicle
  • Cost of office supplies such as computers and software
  • Payroll or salaries paid to staff
  • Business insurance
  • Taxes and permits
  • Legal expenses

start-up costs

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your office lease, any notable clients you’ve served, or an overview of the services you offer.  

Putting together a business plan for your HR consulting business is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will have an expert HR consulting business plan; download it to PDF to show banks and investors. You will really understand the HR industry, your competition, and your customers. You will have developed a marketing plan and will really understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful HR consulting business.  

HR Consulting Business Plan FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my hr consulting business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily complete your HR Consulting Business Plan.

What is the Goal of a Business Plan's Executive Summary?

The goal of your Executive Summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the type of HR consulting business you are operating and the status; for example, are you a startup, do you have an HR consulting business that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of HR consulting businesses?

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Human Resources Consulting Business Plan

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Human Capital Maximizers

Executive summary executive summary is a brief introduction to your business plan. it describes your business, the problem that it solves, your target market, and financial highlights.">.

Human Capital Maximizers (HCM) is a human resource consulting company located in Portland, Oregon.  HCM has expertise in a wide range of HR areas and is targeting the emerging company market.  HCM will offer this market the ability to compensate client’s employees with stock options from their company.  This will be especially appealing to many start-up companies that find capital scarce. 

Major Adversity, the founder and owner will be leveraging his past and current personal/professional relationships to generate business for Human Capital Maximizers.  Major will be the sole employee until month six when he will be hiring a human resource specialist/manager to help out with the consulting.  Human Capital Maximizers will show increasing profitability over the next three years.

Human resources consulting business plan, executive summary chart image

1.1 Keys to Success

The keys to success are to provide a needed service while providing a flexible means of compensation.

1.2 Mission

Human Capital Maximizers’ mission is to provide human resource consulting for emerging companies.  We exist to attract and maintain customers.  When we adhere to this maxim, everything else will fall into place.  Our services will exceed the expectations of our customers.

1.3 Objectives

The objectives for the first three years of operation include:

  • To create a service-based company whose primary goal is to exceed customer’s expectations.
  • To increase our number of clients served by 20% per year through superior performance and word-of-mouth referrals.
  • To develop a sustainable start-up consultancy firm that can survive off its own cash flow and has significant equity holdings in emerging companies.

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Company summary company overview ) is an overview of the most important points about your company—your history, management team, location, mission statement and legal structure.">.

Human Capital Maximizers is a HR consultancy firm serving the Portland area market. HCM will be set up as an Oregon Corporation owned by Major Adversity and will focus on emerging companies.

2.1 Company Ownership

Human Capital Maximizers is a privately held Oregon corporation founded and owned by Major Adversity.

2.2 Start-up Summary

Human Capital Maximizers will incur the following start-up expenses:

  • Two desks, two chairs, and two lockable file cabinets.
  • Two computer systems including a CD-RW, printer and a third computer to serve as a server.
  • DSL router and DSL connections.
  • Two telephones, fax machine, and copier.

Please note that the following items which are considered assets to be used for more than a year will labeled long-term assets and will be depreciated using G.A.A.P. approved straight-line depreciation method.

Human resources consulting business plan, company summary chart image

Human Capital Maximizers provides human resource consulting to emerging companies in the Portland/Vancouver market.   Human Capital Maximizers will charge a below market rate and take stock options in the company.  Human Capital Maximizers will  provide consulting for the following service areas:

  • Human resource management.
  • Organizational management.
  • Professional development.
  • Employee relations.
  • Labor relations.
  • Benefits and compensation.
  • HR policy and procedure.
  • Executive search.
  • Sexual harassment.
  • Position classification.
  • Personnel management systems.
  • Performance evaluations.

The pricing structure will either be an hourly rate or a per project fee.  These options will be settled on in negotiation with the client.  In general, Human Capital Maximizers is willing to be as flexible as possible.

Market Analysis Summary how to do a market analysis for your business plan.">

Emerging companies will be the target market for several reasons:

  • They are in need of HR services as they are growing rapidly.
  • They often do not have a large enough in-house solution as they are increasing in size.
  • Capital is a scarce resource for emerging companies so the ability to accept stock options in replace of cash is appealing.

The emerging company market can be further broken down into two categories, technology and non-technology.  The significance of the breakdown is not that significant because many of the networking activities are occurring in settings that do not differentiate between technology and non-technology.

4.1 Market Segmentation

Human Capital Maximizers market can be segmented into two different groups, emerging high-tech companies and emerging non-high tech companies.  The emerging high-tech companies are going to be the larger of the two segments.  Even with the Internet bubble bursting within the last year, there are still many different emerging high-tech companies proliferating.  This is evidenced by the Business Journal of Portland which in their annual list of fastest growing companies for this year, 18 of the top 25 were technology companies.

There are also non-technology companies that are emerging in the Portland area and Human Capital Maximizers will be able to serve them as well.

Human resources consulting business plan, market analysis summary chart image

4.2 Target Market Segment Strategy

Human Capital Maximizers’ two markets will be primarily targeted through networking activities.  Some networking will be conducted through the Oregon Entrepreneur Association, an association that supports entrepreneurial ventures in the local area.   This organization has monthly meetings that are in round-table format, allowing members to socialize.

Human Capital Maximizers will also be networking from personal/professional contacts that Major has developed professionally in the last five years in the HR/start-up industry.  HCM will also be relying on word of mouth to grow its customer base.

Strategy and Implementation Summary

Human Capital Maximizers will use their competitive edge of compensation flexibility to attract emerging companies.  This competitive advantage is especially valuable to emerging companies who are typically struggling to find enough capital to grow their business.  Accepting stock options as compensation is useful because equity is one thing these companies have lots of (that is of course if they haven’t given it all away to the Venture Capitalists).

5.1 Milestones

Human Capital Maximizers will have several milestones early on:

  • Business plan completion.  This will be done as a roadmap for the organization.  This will be an indispensable tool for the ongoing performance and improvement of the company.
  • Set up office.
  • HCM’s first five customers.
  • Profitability.

5.2 Sales Strategy

As stated earlier, the marketing and sales will be done primarily through networking.  This means the bulk of the leads will have been developed through a personal/professional relationship that Major has developed either in his previous professional work or through his activities with the Oregon Entrepreneurs Association and other similar associations.  The sales spiel will be based on Human Capital Maximizers experience in the field as well as their flexibility for compensation.  Major will be able to explain to the prospective client the areas that he has experience in and the solutions that he can offer. 

Major will also be able to speak about Human Capital Maximizers ability to accept options in lieu of cash.  This will be appealing to companies, particularly in the current capital market which is quite scarce.  Since capital is more difficult to come by now than in the last few years, emerging companies will be excited about this option.

5.2.1 Sales Forecast

The first month will be used to set up the office.  Additionally, during the first month Major will be working hard on developing contracts. The second month will see some activity, but it will not be until month six when business will be picking up at a higher rate.  Sales will continue to grow through year three.

Human resources consulting business plan, strategy and implementation summary chart image

5.3 Competitive Edge

Human Capital Maximizers competitive edge is their flexibility for compensation.  Most or all other companies require compensation to be in the form of cash, for them cash is king.  Human Capital Maximizers is able to take stock options in lieu of some cash.  While Human Capital Maximizers needs some cash to float the business, it can take up to 75% of its fees in equity.  Human Capital Maximizers is able to do this because they have secured an office space that is low in cost, helping them reduce their overhead.  In addition, Major’s wife contributes a significant portion of money to the household so Major is not in need of a lot of monthly compensation.  This allows him to accept options as payment in hopes of an upside to come several years for now. (Please note the the HR industry, unlike law firms and accounting firms do not run into conflict of interests situations regarding receiving equity as compensation.)

Web Plan Summary

The website will be used as a resource that prospective companies can view to gain more information about the company.  In essence it is Human Capital Maximizers’ brochure.  On the site there will be information about the management of the company and corresponding bios indicating all of their experience.  Also on the website will be a list of present and past clients and information regarding Human Capital Maximizers’ fee structure and willingness to accept stakes of option.

6.1 Website Marketing Strategy

The marketing of the website will consist of submitting it to the popular search engines.  The website will be used more as a information tool that prospective companies can be sent to for more information about Human Capital Maximizers as opposed to marketing the website in order for the website to develop new leads.

6.2 Development Requirements

The development requirements will entail hiring an individual (preferably a student for cost saving purposes) to develop and produce the site.

Management Summary management summary will include information about who's on your team and why they're the right people for the job, as well as your future hiring plans.">

Major Adversity, the founder and owner received his undergraduate degree in marketing from Reed College.  After completing college Major recognized that he would eventually need to go to graduate school but was not ready to yet. 

Major worked in a large bicycle store for four years after college.  Major started out as a mechanic but quickly moved up to manager where he was responsible for much of the operation.  Some of the new responsibilities that Major enjoyed was the interviewing, selection & hiring, compensation, and employee relations.  After fours years in the bike shop Major was looking for a new challenge so he entered the University of Portland to pursue his MBA. 

Major received his MBA within two years and went to work for Nike out of school in their HR department.  After a year and half Major left Nike to work for a HR consultancy boutique that worked primarily with technology companies, many of them start ups.  Major enjoyed this thoroughly because of the dynamic environment that his clients worked in.  Major stayed with this firm for a total of four years.  

Toward the end of Major’s four years he got married and his wife, as a professional, was contributing large amounts of salary to the household.  This led Major to consider opening his own HR consultancy because he would be able to undertake some risk since the household was supported to a large degree by his wife.  Additionally, Major was could consider taking equity as compensation because a monthly salary was not a necessity.

7.1 Personnel Plan

Major will work full time for Human Capital Maximizers.  By month six Major will have developed more work than he will be able to manage himself and he will hire an additional HR consultant to help him out.  The employee will receive a straight salary and will have no future equity options in the client’s companies.  This employee will be given HR projects and will do the research and sometimes present the findings to the client, other times will allow Major to present to the client.

Financial Plan investor-ready personnel plan .">

The following sections will outline important financial information. Please note that the stock options granted in lieu of compensation are not entered into the financial plan as they are not yet of value.  Upon exercising the options there will be tax consequences (because one of the realizing events has occurred) as well as assets to be accounted for.

8.1 Important Assumptions

The following table details important financial assumptions.

8.2 Break-even Analysis

The Break-even Analysis is shown below.

Human resources consulting business plan, financial plan chart image

8.3 Projected Profit and Loss

The following table will indicate projected profit and loss.

Human resources consulting business plan, financial plan chart image

8.4 Projected Cash Flow

The following chart and table will indicate projected cash flow.

Human resources consulting business plan, financial plan chart image

8.5 Projected Balance Sheet

The following table will indicate the projected balance sheet.

8.6 Business Ratios

The following table outlines some of the more important ratios from the Management Consulting Resources industry. The final column, Industry Profile, details specific ratios based on the industry as it is classified by the Standard Industry Classification (SIC) code, 8742.

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More From Forbes

20 tips for creating an employee-centric human resources policy.

Forbes Human Resources Council

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Businesses striving to improve their human resources operations face the challenge of effectively managing employee interactions with the HR department. Crafting a comprehensive policy to govern these interactions is key to maintaining efficiency, transparency and employee satisfaction.

To help companies achieve this, Forbes Human Resources Council members explain how to create an employee-centric HR policy that fosters a culture of collaboration, support and productivity. With the right framework in place, organizations can empower their workforce while ensuring that HR resources are utilized effectively.

1. Define What Employees Can Ask, Response Times And Privacy Rules

Start by crafting a clear HR policy for employees. Define what they can ask, response times and privacy rules. Take continuous feedback from employees to identify any change needed. Also, track the employee requests, prioritize them based on impact and frequency and work on simplifying or automating those requests or tasks for smoother processes. - Siddharth Sharma , JP Morgan Chase & Co.

2. Create A RACI Model With A Ticketing System

Organizations can create a RACI model for the HR functions and tasks along with a ticketing system. Employees will know who is responsible, accountable, consulted and informed for all HR-related matters. Ticketing systems or project management tools like Trello, Asana and ClickUp, can all help streamline communication, escalation and execution. - Kimika Banfield , Arootah

3. Communicate Openly About Policies And Services

There is no one-size-fits-all on how employees engage with their HR department. Every organization is at a different life cycle in the role of HR in their organization and there are different sizes of HR teams. HR is the center hub for the talent management life cycle. Overall, HR needs to have open communication, educate employees and managers on the policies and services and be transparent. - Sherry Martin , Government Administration

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Wwe smackdown results: winners and grades before elimination chamber 2024, the 26 best mattress sales and deals to shop this weekend, 4. ensure your hr department is flexible and holistic.

Ensure that HR is a flexible and holistic department. Any question or concern should be able to be brought to HR. Even though HR may not be the right place to go for the ultimate answer or solution, HR team members can act as the organization's logistics team—sending people to the right place for answers or resolutions. In this way, HR becomes a trusted partner to the entire team for any need. - David Hawthorne , Pacific Bells

5. Communicate With The Team About Strategic Priorities

Clear and proactive expectations should be set in order to help an organization understand how to best utilize its people team. Proactively communicating about the team's strategic priorities for the year along with clearly defining how to engage with their business partnering teams, employee support and centers of excellence can help drive effective utilization tremendously. Clarity is key! - Lauren Tropeano , Skillshare

6. Implement 'People Teams' Across The Business

People teams embedded across the business, co-creating solutions with cross-functional teams, building trust and strengthening relationships through proactively communicating initiatives at town halls, open "office" hours and weekly departmental updates. Focus on moving beyond a policy to being a trusted partner and advisor for employees as well as the business. - Maria Miletic

Forbes Human Resources Council is an invitation-only organization for HR executives across all industries. Do I qualify?

7. Provide Confidentiality For Employees When Possible

Providing confidentiality and anonymity when possible encourages people to use HR. But people's willingness to engage goes beyond policies. HR must build relationships with people to earn their trust. It's important that HR is seen as an ally, and not only a function that is focused on managing cost, compliance and performance. When HR truly helps people solve problems, word spreads fast. - Mikaela Kiner , Reverb

8. Utilize Personalized Employee Assistance Chatbots

Transform HR utilization with a personalized employee assistance chatbot—an innovative AI tool providing instant support, guidance and resources. This enhances accessibility, streamlines queries and collects valuable data for continuous policy improvement. This dynamic approach embraces cutting-edge solutions, fostering adaptability and individualized support within the workforce. - Cally Stanphill , PainTEQ LLC

9. Openly Communicate And Leverage Technology

Open communication is the most effective policy. The HR department is a service organization and employees and their family members are their customers. So are other department managers. For all of them to effectively use HR services, HR needs to leverage technology to be available to their customers when and where they need them. Deliver information they need where they need it and how they need it. - Dinesh Sheth , Green Circle Life

10. Ensure Staff Understands The Business Partner Model

Organizations need strategic HR partners that understand business and can assist them with meeting organizational goals. This requires HR professionals to have the flexibility to be present and available. Ensuring that staff understand the business partner model and utilizing HR technology whether possible to handle the self-service and administrative tasks of HR is essential. - Nakisha Dixon , Vercara

11. Implement A Ticketing System Or A 1-800 Number

How HR interacts with employees can vary in different organizations. One company I am familiar with has a ticketing system or 1-800 number to talk to anyone in HR; they will not answer specific emails and everything is tracked. I am more familiar with smaller companies in which the HR team interacts with all employees and can help them find solutions to their issues, even if not HR-specific. - Erin ImHof , CertiK

12. Emphasize Open Communication Channels

Organizations should adopt a proactive, employee-centric approach. Emphasizing regular, open communication channels between HR and staff—as seen in Google's Project Oxygen—fosters a culture of trust and engagement. Additionally, implementing data-driven strategies, like Microsoft's HR analytics, ensures policies remain relevant and responsive to evolving workforce needs. - Joseph Soares , IBPROM Corp.

13. Listen To And Understand Employee Concerns And Goals

Focus on genuinely listening to and understanding employee concerns and goals. Create open channels of communication where people feel empowered to share feedback and ideas for improvement. Make it safe for them to do so without fear of retaliation. When managers are proactively addressing pain points and meeting employees where they are at, there is less likely to be demand for unions. - Jessica Kriegel , Culture Partners

14. Transform Your HR Policies As Your Culture And Staff Change

Since HR oversees the employee life cycle and performs crucial functions, such as recruiting and using data for essential business decisions, top management must have confidence in HR's intelligence. The role of HR should continue to change in line with the company's culture and staff needs, with a focus on developing talents rather than justifying the HR protocols to managers. - Dr. Nara Ringrose , Cyclife Aquila Nuclear

15. Outline In Writing How You Prefer Employees Interact With HR

However organizations prefer employees to interact with their HR department, this should be clearly outlined in writing, then shared in the company handbook, on the intranet and with new hires during onboarding. Each company’s processes will differ based on size, structure and so on. Regardless, employees should be clear on HR policies from day one and encouraged to utilize available resources. - John Feldmann , Insperity

16. Clearly Define HR Roles

Organizations can create effective HR utilization policies by clearly defining HR roles, ensuring easy accessibility, promoting open communication and regularly training employees on HR processes. Regular feedback and adapting to changing needs are key to keeping the policy relevant and efficient. - Hassan Choughari , Jaroudi Group

17. Promote Self-Service Through An HR Information System

Create an effective policy for the HR service model while promoting self-service through an intuitive, user-friendly HR Information System (HRIS). With clear guidelines on what issues require HR intervention and what can be handled through self-service tools including robust HRIS training sessions, regular communications and feedback loops. - Britton Bloch , Navy Federal

18. Identify And Simplify How You Want Employees To Engage

Clearly identify "how" employees engage with the department. Do you reach out to an HRBP? Do you email an inbox? Is it via Slack or Teams? Whatever it is, make it easy and make it clear. From there you must empower your team to hold each other accountable for guiding team members through the process. Oftentimes, it makes sense to have two or three paths to connect that are universal. - Corey Berkey , Garnet Bridge Consulting

19. Maximize Transactional Work By Using Self-Service And AI

HR departments should optimize the way they engage with employees by maximizing the amount of transactional work that can be handled through self-serve and AI options. HR practitioners can then focus their energy and time on interactions where their expertise is most valuable. - Dave Barnett , DeVry University

20. Create A Guide To Showcase What HR Can Do For Employees

HR can create guides to showcase what HR can do for employees as a resource. Additionally, sharing this resource during lunch and learns and orientation goes a long way. Most people don't understand all their benefits and what HR's role really is. By communicating your services, you can create engagement and increase employees feeling cared for. - Cat Colella-Graham

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Human Resources News

Providing the UW-La Crosse campus community with updates from UW-System and UW-La Crosse on Human Resources issues.

GIB Approves Benefit Changes for 2025

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Posted 9:38 a.m. Thursday , Feb. 22 , 2024

hr department business plan

The Group Insurance Board today approved benefit changes for the State of Wisconsin Group Health Insurance Program for the 2025 plan year. The Board also upheld its past decision of non-coverage of weight-loss drugs pending further analysis and monitoring by the Department of Employee Trust Funds.

The Group Insurance Board today approved benefit changes for the State of Wisconsin Group Health Insurance Program for the 2025 plan year.

The Board approved the following for 2025: 

  • Clarified contract language on the coverage of nutritional counseling for weight management regardless of bariatric surgery preparation. 
  • Change the lifetime limit for orthoptics (eye treatment) from two to no more than 12 sessions. 
  • Continue deferment of a decision to offer a new cost-saving, specialty drug manufacturer coupon program due to the pending request for proposals for a Pharmacy Benefits Program vendor. 

The Board also upheld its past decision of non-coverage of weight-loss drugs due to estimated increases in program costs and lack of independent scientific studies that show an offset for drug costs with long-term medical savings. In addition,   state law   prevents the Board from increasing program costs without a concurrent opportunity for savings.  

Segal, the Board’s consulting actuary, estimated that GHIP would have a loss of $21 million in 2025 if weight-loss drugs were covered. Segal also referenced experiences of other states, such as North Carolina’s recent decision to stop coverage of weight-loss drugs due to increased program costs and no viable cost-effective alternatives. 

In response to interest and correspondence from members, the Board directed the Department of Employee Trust Funds to continue to monitor utilization, costs and effectiveness of weight-loss drugs, and to present coverage options for the Board’s consideration.

Program Results

The Well Wisconsin Program, administered by WebMD, had 50,649 participants earn their $150 incentive in 2023. This represented 33% of eligible GHIP members, including employees, retirees, and their spouses. Well Wisconsin provides tools and resources to help individuals manage their well-being, mental health, and chronic conditions as well as earn incentives. 

There was a 5.6% reduction in health risks for repeat 2022 and 2023 Well Wisconsin participants. For those who also participated in health coaching, there was a 7.3% reduction in health risks. The top three health risk areas are weight, exercise, and nutrition. 

ETF also reported that participation in the High Deductible Health Plan increased by 9% to over 36,000 members for the 2024 plan year. The HDHP offers a lower monthly premium in return for members sharing more health care costs. The Board asked for further analysis and reporting of the HDHP product, which is currently planned for year 1 of the GHIP strategic roadmap that started in 2024. 

Other Business

The Board also approved: 

  • The re-election of Herschel Day and Nancy Thompson as the board chair and secretary, respectively. Nathan Houdek was elected to the open vice-chair seat. 
  • The open enrollment period for plan year 2025 is September 30-October 25, 2024. 
  • Changing the effective date of annual premium rate changes for the State Income Continuation Insurance Program to April 1, beginning on April 1, 2025, and other technical updates to the state and local plan language. 
  • A new pilot program for remote patient monitoring visits and devices for managing obesity, hypertension, sleep apnea, and atrial fibrillation. 

ETF provided two educational presentations on the Board’s fiduciary duties and the request for proposals process for procuring services. ETF also gave an update on the Insurance Administration System Project, its change for go live to 2025, and related policy and program impacts. 

The Board’s next regularly scheduled meeting is May 23, 2024.

Full article can be found here .

  • Tagged departments: Human Resources
  • Other tags: Human Resources , Benefits and February 2024

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News from around UW System

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Jenna Umberger

Jenna Umberger , ACCESS Center, served co-coordinator for the La Crosse County Commission on Transition. Within this role, Jenna advocates for students with disabilities across the county by establishing community partnerships to aid in the transition from K-12 and beyond.

Submitted on: Feb. 23

Andrew Stapleton

Andrew Stapleton , Management, presented "Business Analytics and Visualization in the Supply Chain: Literature Survey and Case Study" at European Decision Sciences Institute Annual Conference on June 6, 2023. The presentation was presented in Nantes, France by co-authors, Jay Daniel and Elias Abou Marou.

Submitted on: Feb. 16

COMMENTS

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  26. GIB Approves Benefit Changes for 2025

    The Group Insurance Board today approved benefit changes for the State of Wisconsin Group Health Insurance Program for the 2025 plan year. The Board also upheld its past decision of non-coverage of weight-loss drugs pending further analysis and monitoring by the Department of Employee Trust Funds.